As a result of the 2010 Citizens United Decision, current law allows billionaires like the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson to spend colossal amounts of money on political activity. Much of this is made possible because the non-profits they create to spend billions of dollars are legally identified as “social welfare” organizations.

The proposed rules would also ban tax-exempt non-profits from engaging in funding advertisements “that mention a candidate within 60 days of an election” and making grants to other organizations that spend money on candidates.

Register with the FCC as a Super PAC. Because Super PACs are required to disclose donors, the IRS rules could discourage individuals from making contributions that would clearly connect their identities and interests to a candidate, while giving them fewer options for secretly funneling campaign contributions. Unfortunately, however, Super PACS are still allowed to accept an unlimited amount of contributions. Still, the new rules would chip away at one entity of power utilized by some of the biggest spenders, and consolidating this power within Super PACs could narrow the target for future efforts to limit their power.

Hide their money through a corporation that would then engage in political spending.

The U.S. Treasury and IRS will take public comments on the issue, and final proposed rules are not expected to be released for a year or two. Confessore also identified the possibility of a challenge in the courts to the new rules.

Lindsay Jakows was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a 2012 graduate of Pepperdine University, where she organized a campaign for a recognized LGBT student organization on campus. After graduation she took a job with the Student PIRGs, organizing a student-run voter registration drive in Denver, CO and environmental campaigns in Western Massachusetts. Currently Lindsay resides in Northampton, MA, where she works for a local environmental non-profit. She enjoys coffee, cats, and Harry Potter. Her views expressed here are hers and hers only.

Follow us

Any article on LiberalAmerica.org belongs to the writer of the article. You can not sell our writers’ articles, but you can use snippets of our articles with attribution and a link to LiberalAmerica.org and the author’s name on your ad-supported blog or website. Please check with individual authors before using an entire work.